Summary
The topic for today's reading was Behavioral Language Assessment: Part 1 (ABLLS-R). One of the assigned readings, Language Assessment and Development in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders, presented several key findings emerged from a study of early language abilities in a large sample of toddlers with ASD. They found out that although the measures employed in this study to assess emerging language skills in toddlers with ASD involved direct assessment, parent questionnaire and parent interview, there was a very close agreement among these different measures. Also, they found that both receptive and expressive language were much correlated with a range of general and social cognitive variables and motor skills, and that the
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Child's language skills are tested by presenting them with an increasingly complex set of receptive and expressive tasks. The primary goal of these language assessments is to identify a child's age-equivalent linguistic level, which are obtained by a comparison of the child's score on the test to the average language abilities of a large group of typically developing children. Language assessments that focus on age-equivalent scores, and the traditional receptive and expressive distinction, are less useful to parent and teachers who simply need direction for working with a particular child. Standardized language assessment do not give teachers or parents a specific starting point for developing a language intervention program. It is assumed that if a child's language age can be identified then the teacher can develop a language intervention program, and provide material that would be right for that language age. But, finding an age equivalent score does not help find specific linguistic problems, or help suggest strategies for where and how to begin language intervention. Finally, the standardized assessments do not separate the several different types of expressive language, and important distinctions and verbal deficits are often not identified which critical for the daily use of language in the child's natural
The second article, A Methodology for Assessing the Functions of Emerging Speech in Children with Developmental Disabilities by Lerman, Parten, Addison, Vorndran, Volkert, & Kodak, 2005 (2005), is about an experimental study aimed to develop and evaluate
Specific language disorders, or SLI, affect approximately 7-8% of children in kindergarten. SLI are diagnosed in children, mostly, age 3 and older. The relatively late diagnosis is done to distinguish the children that have SLI from those who are simply “late talkers”. Some of the characteristics of SLI involve problem in only one area and some with problems in all areas of language. The children who are diagnosed with SLI may have a delayed vocabulary growth, disinterest in engagement in social interactions relevant to their age, difficulty in comprehension and/or production in any of the following: morphology, semantics, phonology, syntax, and pragmatics. For example, a 4.8 year old child that does not engage in social interactions
Autism affects many children each year and it is important for parents to be aware of delays in their child’s development, in in any area of communication. According to a study by the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders, autistic children possessing a language difficulty or delay have a seventy percent chance of showing fluent speech by the age of eight (“Speech”). Although a child shows delay or impairment in language at a young age, it is possible for them to later on exhibit normal language development. Parents should be aware of normal language benchmarks, such as when a child begins babbling, imitating verbally, and using spoken and first words. If a child is lacking skills normally possessed by typically developing children, having said child
Collecting a language sample addresses several weaknesses that norm-referenced tests hold, including: in-depth information of a child’s language use in “real world” situations, do not have specific rules for administration or behavioral requirements, and provide information on a child’s MLU (Ebert & Scott, 2014). A language sample also allows for the SLP to probe for lexical diversity, the ability to retrieve and use complex vocabulary, and problem solve appropriate for his age (Wolter, 2007). Asking Justin to provide a narrative would allow for him to be flexible in his response, provide valid information about his receptive and expressive language repertoires, and allow for comparison to his responses on the CELF-5 (Ebert & Scott, 2014). Also, language samples allow for clinicians to better develop goals, tailored specifically to the client rather than using general information collected from the standardized test
Students with speech and language impairment are often in general or regular classrooms. To help students with this type of disorders early intervention is way to address this communication problem. Children who are often classify, as high risk are those with chronic ear infection, genetic defects, alcohol syndrome, neurological defects or delayed language. Those who treat this disorders are called speech language pathologist and they could treat as young as 3. Around the age of two most children say around 50 or more words. At the age of there are very chatty and can begin to put sentences together. Also at three they begin to discover that different words having meaning. When the child is delay or one of the components of communication is disrupted the child is at risk for a language
But “if there is a difficulty understanding what people say, difficulty speaking or forming sounds or words and using language in appropriate social contexts then this can affect a child’s behaviour and emotional development”. (Speech, Language Communication Action Plan 2011)
Teach skills under condition where they would naturally occur which increases the probability of these skills being used spontaneously during
Their purpose is to determine what aspects of a child's verbal repertoire are weak and where to begin a language intervention program, which is done by testing the child's language skills (the mand, tact, echoic, interverbal, imitation, and visual performance) and presenting them with an increasingly complex set of receptive and expressive tasks. The primary goal of these language assessments is to identify a child's age-equivalent linguistic level, which are obtained by a comparison of the child's score on the test to the average language abilities of a large group of typically developing children. Language assessments that focus on age-equivalent scores, and the traditional receptive and expressive distinction, are less useful to parent and teachers who simply need direction for working with a particular child. Finally, we should never forget the role that an early intervention plays in the child’s language development. Barbera Introduction, presented how an early intervention is critical for working with children who have some severe difficulties with language, socializing or communicating. Because treatment programs are more effective when started at early age including disorders as mental retardation and pervasive developmental disorders like autism, which are considered the most difficult to treat by the American Psychiatrist Association’s
As this research was based on the Cross- Sectional design, only the information relevant to the age group the child belongs has been stated. The history of each subject’s language development from birth has not been discussed. The names of the participants have been changed to maintain their anonymity. All other details are accurate and factual.
However, rather than evaluating a child’s language with stationary measures, dynamic assessments could play a critical role. Additionally, Justice suggests that only the most critical components of literacy including those skills directly influencing word recognition are of concern. But if the goal is to deliver the ability to read and academic achievement, other characteristics of language are certainly pertinent. SLPs have transformed over time to become more
Autism spectrum disorder hinders a child’s capability to interact and communicate with others; “ASD is now defined by the American Psychiatric Association 's Diagnosis
Akhtar & Gernsbacher (2007) attempt to explain this atypical pattern of language development for those with Autism, in the idea that in typically developing children initiating interactions was found to be less correlated with vocabulary development compared to responding interactions. Additionally Austic children may still make gains in language development by a reliance on responding to joint attention and less on initiating joint attention which reportedly they exhibit less (Laing et al., 2002).
The frequency of regression in autism is uncertain. One study reviewed published evidence and reported rates varying between 22% and 50%.Many children with autism have infantile speech, which usually stops in such children, as in developmentally normal children, before age 18 months. In normal children more communicative speech usually overlaps. The failure of this normal communicative speech to develop in children, who have autism, coinciding with the disappearance of infantile vocalizations, may be over interpreted as regression of speech and language. Our figure of 25% with developmental regression, although in accord with other studies, is likely to include many such children and is likely to be an overestimate. Regression was found in
Should the language competence of children from low-SES backgrounds be considered deficient or different? Evaluate the evidence for and against each claim.